Astrid

 

 

 

“I . . . HE’S SOMEONE I lost a long time ago.” I withdrew my hands from Zane’s, linking them around my legs.

Craning forward, Zane bristled. He’d acted strange as soon as I’d shown him the likeness of Cozmo in my mind. He didn’t say anything, but his sharp jaw tightened even more.

“You promise you don’t know him?” I pressed him.

“I promise, meehri.”

But maybe I was hallucinating about Zane’s tense reaction. Lord knew after last night my brain was a little fuzzy, and it wasn’t just because of the amount of liquor I’d consumed. I was still gripped in the wildest fantasy of being on a new planet, in an entirely alien civilization.

Well, alien except for Prairie. But X and Magnar and Kerta and the Queen Superior! Then later, on this very bed . . . Zane had treated me to the best sex-not-sex I could’ve ever imagined.

Suddenly his eyes burned hotly on me, and I remembered not to imagine anything at all because my sexy alien lover might see what I was picturing in my head.

Which only made him more intriguing.

I glanced away as my cheeks heated and a flame of arousal curled between my thighs where he’d spent much of the night driving me through orgasm after orgasm. I’d worked him just as hard, just as hotly.

His cocks were so large one would’ve been intimidating. Two were—I closed my eyes as the clutch of arousal made my thighs clench—deliciously obscene. His reactions to my sucking and stroking, the way he lost all control and came with loud roaring bellows as his body bucked up—having power like that over a man so physically intimidating was heady. And I’d serviced him hungrily, happily.

A low growl echoed from Zane’s chest, and my eyes flashed back to his.

“I can smell you, Astrid, like a female in heat.”

Crouching on his hands and knees, revealing two thick hard cocks, he came toward me. The wicked glint in his changeable irises revealed his desire for me.

I leaped off the bed with a squeal, hastily dragging a blanket with me. “No.

With panther-like grace, he prowled off the bed—unashamedly naked and large all over.

“Down boy!” I jumped backward.

He latched a well-muscled arm around my waist, halting my escape. “Down boy?”

He inexorably dragged the fur throw from my body, naughty eyes roaming down the length of my figure. “I’m not an animal to be ordered about, Astrid.”

His nose skimmed up the side of my neck to my ear.

Breath shivered from my parted lips. “You acted like one last night

“Little one, I haven’t even begun to fully unleash myself on you.” Cupping my ass, he laughed, and the sensual threat of his words made my pussy pulse in anticipation.

“One kiss and then I’ll take you exploring. Show you anything you want.”

“Wait!”

His head tilted in curiosity as I halted him with hands pressed against his chest.

“I want to know about these first.” My fingers skimmed over the many skin markings that decorated his body. “Then I’ll grant you a kiss.”

“They’re like tattoos, I guess you could say. But they denote the passage of time, the important events in my life.”

“Fascinating,” I murmured, tracing one mystical-looking rune-like design on his shoulder then down to the two on either side of his chest. “What about these?”

The circular bands had grown from last night to this morning, and sometimes the lines seemed to pulse with the same spectacular color as his eyes.

“Those, once complete, will connect.” He lifted my hands to draw them behind his sturdy neck. “Symbolizing our union.”

My breath hitched as I stared up at him, and new heat coursed through my body. “They appear spontaneously?”

One corner of his full mouth tilted up. “Mmmm.”

Then he caught me up in his arms, caught me with his kiss.

With luxuriant slowness, he eased his tongue between my lips and forayed alongside mine. I pulled down on his broad shoulders, seeking to get closer, his cocks rigid and weighty between us. My nipples domed immediately, and Zane angled his head further, dipping his tongue deeper as it swashed all around my mouth.

I panted deliriously as he pulled away with a wet sucking sound that went straight to my primed nipples and wet sex.

“Now let’s get you clothed before I show you exactly how much of an animal I want to be with you.” Swatting my ass with the flat of his hand so I yelped, he chuckled in that deep masculine tone of his.

****

Magnar stood just outside the doors of Zane’s rooms when we exited. I tried not to think about everything he’d heard during the night, but he made it impossible with his first words of the day.

“Get much rest last night?”

Zane guffawed loudly, quite smug about his indisputable prowess.

I stomped ahead. “Men. No different than on Earth.”

Quickly catching up with me, Zane clasped my hand in his strong grip. “Beg to differ.”

I sent him a withering glance, but he just laughed harder, and of course Magnar snickered behind us.

Ugh.

I didn’t know how Zane produced clothes that fit me—it appeared he was capable of conjuring items from thin air, which meant I had little choice in how he outfitted me. Although last night I’d felt like a sensual goddess, today there were finely woven leggings that stretched down to my calves, a soft sleeveless tunic belted at the waist, and flat sandals.

Before leaving the room, Zane had bent his head into the sheaf of my loose hair, breathing deeply.

“Like a blonde waterfall, meehri.”

His gentle compliment and tender touch had set my belly trembling.

Remembering his sweetness, I decided to forgive him for his rude male behavior, and once we stepped outside, I forgot everything else altogether.

What I’d seen last night was now showcased in full broad sunlight. No—a gasp punched up from my chest—four suns. I spun in a circle on the beautiful terrace, taking in the scenery in all directions.

“No moat or drawbridge?” Behind us, the royal palace spired up into the sky like a magical prismic vision and, below, a gently sloping lawn led toward a woodland area.

“The palace has its own secrets.” Zane winked.

“Such as?” I couldn’t help it. I was insatiably inquisitive.

“It’s imperceptible to most, but the layout of the royal quarters changes every day for security reasons.”

I cocked my head back at the crystal-like structure, astounded. “Okay. I’m not even gonna ask how in the world that’s possible.”

“I couldn’t tell you if I knew.”

Somehow I doubted that. But there was too much to discover, and a gleeful impatience made me bounce on the balls of my feet. “Where do we begin? Where’s everyone else?”

I’d noted no other people in our vicinity besides the ever-present Magnar.

“I’ve ordered all others to keep their distance for now.” He seemed to mull something over before adding, “You know, after what Prairie mentioned last night about being overwhelmed.”

“Of course. The prince can do that.” Then I frowned. If Zane truly were taking me on a tour of the surroundings, I wished I had my iPad with me so I could record detailed notes in my usual meticulous manner.

As if he’d anticipated my desire, Zane produced a gadget that was almost transparent and looked nearly weightless held in his big palms. He demonstrated, swiping a thumb across a screen that really only materialized when touched. Then he pointed the gadget at me, and the screen morphed into a 3D rendering of me, complete with my vitals.

“As you can see, the zPad is highly intuitive.”

I’d never witnessed such evolved technology—not even at NASA—and I wondered how many more times I’d be thunderstruck today. I couldn’t wait.

“Unbelievable.” I’d be able to effortlessly document flora and fauna and anything else that caught my fancy.

Obviously pleased with himself, Zane handed the tablet over, and I decided he’d be my very first subject.

The screen captured his likeness and immediately evolved into a small hologram of him. I studied the readout, which appeared in English . . . higher core temperature, same basic musculature and skeletal makeup, a few fascinating differences in the DNA sequence and . . .

Two heart chambers?

My eyes shot from the three-dimensional image to Zane.

“Holy crap!” There on the screen, on each side of his chest, two organs clearly beating. “Two hearts? Is that just you because of the . . .”

“All Zenithians.”

“Holy crap,” I repeated, stunned.

Then I glanced lower at the image. Zane’s diphallia was visible. More than visible. Both cocks showed an even higher temperature than the rest of his body, and I grew flustered, my cheeks heating.

He laughed, looping an arm around my shoulders. “Come.”

I practically skipped ahead, motioning a fingertip over the gadget so his image was recorded and banked. From the terrace, we strode onto a path, Magnar trailing behind, ever vigilant even though I’d never felt safer than with Zane at my side.

The pathway glittered, paved as it was with what appeared to be multicolor mineral stones when I used the device to scan the pebbles. Remarkable colors, more vibrant than any seen on Earth, dazzled me in every direction as we entered a forest.

“X and Kerta and I used to play here when we were children.” Zane reached out to touch the leaf of one of many trees that rose, gargantuan, around us.

When brushed against, the leaf gave off a tinkling noise, nothing like the rustle of leaves moved by a breeze in the woods on Earth.

These were no ordinary conifers, that was for damn sure.

I continued to study what was in front of me as well as what showed up on the tablet. The tree’s foliage wasn’t green at all. I marveled at the warm almost autumnal red and awed even more over how delicate the leaves looked. But when I tried to break one free to keep as a sample, Zane stopped me.

“Uh uhn. The tree won’t like that.”